Biden Vows to Target High Prescription Drug Prices, Strengthen ACA

AARP reports that President Biden vowed in his speech this week to Congress to empower Medicare to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, fortify the Affordable Care Act (ACA), improve access to long-term care, and establish a national research agency to fight diseases that mostly target older Americans. Much of Biden's speech concerned elements within the infrastructure and families plans he recently unveiled, including enhancements to the country's long-term care system. He noted that 800,000 families are currently on Medicare's waiting list to get home care for aging parents or loved ones with a disability. Biden's infrastructure plan apportions $400 billion to expand access to long-term care, including home- and community-based care. He also explained that by enabling Medicare to save hundreds of billions of dollars by negotiating lower prescription drug prices, everyone — not just people on Medicare — would benefit. The president also asked for the establishment within the National Institutes of Health of a new agency, to "develop breakthroughs to prevent, detect, and treat diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes, and cancer." Biden is also pushing to make ACA-directed subsidy increases permanent, along with reducing deductibles for working families on the ACA.